Why Your Child’s Abuser Might Not Be Whom You Think

You know something isn’t right with your child. Your son or daughter is displaying all the signs of being sexually abused. As a result, your attention quickly turns to the many adults in your child’s life, leading you to question every coach, teacher, aide, church leader, troop leader, daycare worker, and other adult; however, it may surprise you to learn that your child’s abuser might not be an adult.

It is a common myth that child sex abusers are adult males. Surprisingly, many child sex abusers are in fact children themselves. While most child sex abusers are adults, there are quite a number of younger abusers. Sadly, there are many children sexually abusing other children. This often happens when an older child is left alone with a younger child. Some instances in which this can occur includes:

Camping trip in the Boy Scouts

Overnight daycare

Time in the locker room

Time on the playground

Church outings

While many parents don’t expect another child to abuse their child, child-on-child abuse has occurred at church, in the Boy Scouts, and at school. In fact, it can take place just about anywhere, even when children are supposed to be supervised by adults.

Sadly, many adults in charge of monitoring children fail to supervise them properly, giving an older child the opportunity to coerce or threaten a younger child to perform a sexual act. Because institutions may fail to properly supervise children, abused victims and their families should learn all they can about pursuing a claim for damages. To learn more, request a free copy of our book, When the Unthinkable Happens: Your Guide to Florida Child Abuse Claims.